The place beyond the pines

Truly superb American crime drama with a superb cast that is one of the movies of the year

Next up is The place beyond the pines starring Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, Bradley Cooper & Ray Liotta in this must see drama written and directed by Derek Cianfrance who also directed Blue Valentine which also starred Gosling.

Luke Glanton (Gosling) is a stunt motorcycle rider who goes around the counties performing but when he returns to one town Altamont New York he bumps into an ex-lover Romina (Mendes) and he discovers that they have a child together, Glanton decides to quit his job and win back Romina and become a father and a family to his son Jason but Romina has a new man in her life Kofi so she doesn’t want Luke back. Luke sets out to find a job so he can support his son and soon finds work at a local garage owned by Robin but with work sparse the money flow isn’t consistent enough for Luke and after spilling his heart out Robin tells Luke that he used to rob banks a few years ago but when the heat became too much he decided to quit, Luke and Robin carry out a few successful raids but Luke soon becomes greedy after being released on police bail for attacking Kofi in his home Luke wants to do 2 robberies in one day but Robin refuses as he feels it’s time to stop before they get caught, Robin and Luke have a series of altercations and Luke robs a bank but is pursued by a local policeman Avery Cross (Cooper) into a house and cross shoots dead Luke but is wounded in the process.

Cross soon discovers that the police force is corrupt and begins to plot his rise through the ranks at any cost and after he is dismissed by his boss unwilling to bring shame on the department Cross builds a case against the police and his former colleagues that leads to the arrest and conviction of several officers including Peter Deluca (Liotta) and helping Cross achieve his dream of becoming assistant district attorney. The film the forwards 15 years and at Avery Cross’s dads funeral his ex-wife tells Avery that his teenage son AJ needs his father at this time in his life and although Avery is planning his campaign to become New York’s attorney general he reluctantly agrees to take his son in, AJ starts a new school but soon becomes friends with another Stoner by the name of Jason, the pair begin to take drugs and hand out but one night at a party at AJ’s Jason soon discovers that his dad is the cop that shot his dad Luke all those years ago and confronts AJ buts Jason is hospitalised and when he is released from hospital Jason wants revenge and gets a gun from a local dealer he breaks into AJ’s eventually taking Avery hostage and dumping him into the woods and fleeing.

This one of the best movies of the year without a doubt and has some sensational performances from Gosling & Cooper there is also fantastic performances from Dane Dahaan as Jason Lawless & Emory Cohen as AJ.